Monday, 4 September 2017
Prime Minister Receives EBRD President-Led Delegation
Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan received a delegation led by President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Sir Suma Chakrabarti.
Highly appreciative of the ongoing cooperation between the Government of Armenia and the EBRD, the Prime Minister noted that the package of bilateral partnership comprises 158 projects worth about 1.1 billion euros.
Karen Karapetyan stressed that the EBRD programs are of great importance in the context of his government’s reform agenda and economic development efforts, adding that all of the three directions specified in the bilateral cooperation strategy for 2015-2019 - stimulating the competitiveness of the private sector, developing capital markets, promoting sustainable and commercialized public services - are as much important.
According to the Head of Government, with the assistance of the EBRD, Armenia has implemented and is currently implementing programs for solid waste management, water supply system improvement and the Yerevan Metro and urban lighting modernization. At the same time, the Prime Minister thanked the EBRD leadership for backing up the decision to set up in our country the head office of the Federation of the Eurasian Stock Exchange.
Karen Karapetyan highlighted the project on the development of public-private sector cooperation mechanisms, which was developed by EBRD experts. He appreciated the establishment of an equity fund with the EBRD and the finalization of this process.
The Premier hailed the Bank’s continued assistance to the process of amending the Tax Code of the Republic of Armenia, which will help make the corporate bankruptcy-related regulations more comprehensive.
Speaking about future cooperation, the Head of Government stressed the need for making maximum use of non-sovereign lending mechanisms, giving priority to the format of public-private sector partnership and the possibility of providing direct lending to communities. In this context, Karen Karapetyan suggested getting the EBRD involved in the development of investment schemes for Armenian IT and high-tech startup companies.
In turn, Sir Suma Chakrabarti stressed the fact of effective cooperation with the Armenian government, noting that the EBRD would like to see ever more funds invested in the country, including within the framework of public-private sector partnership and SME initiatives.
According to him, the EBRD has developed a new “quantity and quality” agenda for Armenia and is ready to continue assisting our country with the projects and initiatives planned in various sectors. Mr Chakrabarti pointed out that bilateral cooperation would be inexistent if it were not for the reforms initiated by the Government, which is a good message for all investors, including the international community.
During the meeting, the parties took the opportunity to look at the establishment of the institution of business ombudsman, development of corporate governance in Armenia, as well as issues pertaining to the Digital Armenia agenda.
